


A Different Wolfsong

by wingthing



Series: The EQ Alternaverse [4]
Category: Elfquest
Genre: EQ Alternaverse, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 15:30:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4671824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingthing/pseuds/wingthing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skywise has always managed to stay one step ahead of Recognition... until now. A new tribe joins the EQ Alternaverse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Different Wolfsong

Skywise lay against Starjumper’s soft gray fur as he gazed up at the stars. The dreamberry feast had been good. In the six months since they had settled at Thorny Mountain, Redlance had grown a full garden of dreamberry bushes, just inside the thorn wall he had coaxed into place around the Holt’s boundaries. The few humans who passed by never penetrated the thick brambles. Swift had ordered caution – for the moment, at any rate, the humans would never know the elves existed. 

“Good berries, huh, Starjumper?” he ruffled the wolf’s mane. Starjumper yawned, then shifted under his weight, rolling over on his back playing. “Oh, you wanna tussle, is that it?” he scratched Starjumper’s belly, then proceeded to wrestle with the wolf. Starjumper yipped and growled playfully. 

“Ha ha, you’re in good shape, aren’t you?” Skywise patted his ribs. “Didn’t even take a scratch in the last challenge. Imagine Firecoat thinking he could take over the pack.” 

He sat back, thinking about it. Starjumper had to be nearly forty – though he had no idea exactly how old he was. And yet he was as strong as ever. Since taking over the pack from Briersting, over six years ago, he had been challenged once or twice. One of the wolves from the Frozen Mountain, Dodia’s jackwolf, Redlance’s Firecoat – every one of those challenges had been put down quickly. By all rights the old wolf should be dead. Swift’s first wolf-friend Nightrunner had lived to be a ripe old twenty-three, and very few wolves lived much longer. Yet here was Starjumper, strong as ever. 

“You’ll live forever, won’t you?” Skywise laughed. “Just like me.” 

Starjumper sneezed, then proceeded to roll in the grass, scratching his back on the ground. Skywise smiled as he recalled his first meeting with his wolf-friend. He had been four, and his mother’s wolf Whitemask had borne a litter of cubs. Five little pups, whining and yipping, yet none of them seemed right for the only child of the Holt. 

“It’s your wolf, Mother,” he insisted. “One of her pups should be mine. Why don’t they like me?” 

“It’s just not your time to have a wolf-friend,” Eyes High smiled. “Be patient. I was twice your age before I found my first wolf.” 

“But there are five cubs. Why don’t any of them want an elf-friend?” 

“Shhh, little one. It’s not meant to be. They’ll still play with you – it’s only that none of them are right for you.” 

“But I want a wolf-friend!” 

He ran into the forest, all the way to Goodtree’s Glen. He sat down on the banks of the fishing pond and tossed pebbles into the water. He cried miserably. He was the only child in the tribe. He had no agemates, no real friends. He wanted a wolf-friend, a little cub his age he could play with. But his parents and Chieftess Joyleaf just told him to wait. Wait until a wolf had a cub who liked him, wait until someone Recognized and had an elf-cub. He was tired of waiting. 

A noise startled him, and he spun around, half-afraid a human had penetrated the Holt’s boundaries. But no, his nose told him it was a wolf, but a wolf not of their pack. As Skywise drew back, more than a little nervous at the strange, yet oddly familiar scent, a large gray wolf, with a silver raccoon-mask across his eyes, strode out into the glen. 

Skywise stared mutely as the wolf drew nearer. It sniffed his puff of white hair, nudged his shoulder gently, then licked his face. 

The child threw his arms about the wolf’s thick neck. “Starjumper!” he cried out the wolf’s name, the name that had appeared in his mind as if in sending. “Your name’s Starjumper, and you’re my wolf-friend!” 

Eyes High and Shale fretted when Skywise rode the massive wolf back to Father Tree. Would the pack accept him? But Starjumper glided seamlessly into the pack, submitting to the alpha male without question, wooing the subordinate wolves with his friendly ways. Within a month he was the undisputed second-chief. 

“How old were you when I found you?” Skywise wondered now as he gazed down at his wolf-friend. “You had to be three or four turns old, at least. No wolf I’ve ever heard of has lived for five eights! Are you going to live forever?” 

Starjumper looked up at him quizzically. 

Skywise wrapped his arms about the wolf’s neck and breathed in his scent. “Don’t ever leave me, Starjumper. Don’t ever make someone ask me if I want to keep your pelt in memory. Some parts of death I can’t even think about, and I don’t want to think about yours. Stay chief wolf forever.” 

Starjumper, puzzled, only licked his face, as he always did when his elf-friend seem distressed. 

* * * 

“Oh, Moonshade,” Dewshine gasped as she slipped the softly-tanned tunic on over her shoulders and laced up the front. She stepped from out of the concealing bushes and ran her hands over her new lavender-and-rose outfit. “You outdo yourself with each new design. What do you think, Windkin?” 

Her son, now a year-and-a-half old, only giggled as he floated in the air above her, tethered to her waist by a long leather cord. “Baba!” he cried. “Baba come.” 

Dewshine looked up, shading her eyes from the setting sunlight. In the Frozen Mountains the Wolfriders had taken to sleeping half at day and half at night, going to bed in the predawn hours and waking up in the mid-afternoon. Three years had made it a hard habit to break. Now the skyfire of sunset created a dark silhouette above as Tyldak circled once, before folding in his wings and dropping into the clearing. 

“Hold still, Rayek,” Moonshade reprimanded as she returned to the final fitting of their chief hunter’s leathers. She had crafted him a long-sleeved jacket of red leather, with a warm hood for the coming white-cold, and matching trousers and boots. But Rayek was ever an uncooperative subject, and fussed, stretching in his new clothes as she tried to finish the lacing. 

“Do you like Rayek’s outfit?” Dewshine reeled Windkin back into her arms and pointed out the hunter. 

“Rawa!” Windkin pointed. 

“Yes, that’s Rayek. And who’s that?” she pointed to Moonshade. 

“Moon-sha.” 

“He’ll be able to name the entire tribe in no time,” a voice remarked. A rustle of branches and Swift dropped from the trees. “Ah – I spotted a flock of nightswimmers down the mountain, they must be drawn by tonight’s sunset. This death-sleep promises to be the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.” 

“Nightswimmers,” Moonshade remarked. “You should gather a hunting party.” 

“Strongbow and One-Eye have already set out, with Dart, Clearbrook, and Shale in tow. With a little luck we will have a good feast tonight. Mmm, Rayek,” she smiled, sauntering over to her lifemate. “I had no idea Moonshade could create a cold-weather outfit for you to rival the fur-lined leathers from the Frozen Mountains.” 

“At least he won’t stand out in the woods like a strutter-cock, in those bright colors from Sorrow’s End – Rayek!” she snapped as Rayek drew Swift into his arms and greeted her with a passionate kiss. “Hold still! I’ve no more laces of this colour. If you make me nip them too short – nnh, there!” she bit off the slack. 

“My... thanks, Moonshade,” he murmured, too preoccupied with his lifemate to notice. Swift laughed and pushed him away flirtatiously, only to pull him back and wrap his arms about her waist. Rayek drew her against him obligingly. 

Windkin giggled again, then proceeded to fly about Dewshine and Tyldak, trailing his leash behind him until they were both tangled together. “Mama Baba stuck,” he laughed, before he reached down and unclipped himself from the tether. 

“Windkin!” Dewshine exclaimed as the baby escaped again. “Oh, I think Skywise must have taught him that.” 

“I’ll have him,” Rayek floated up from the ground, swiftly intercepting the infant. 

“Bad Rawa!” Windkin wailed as he sunk back to the ground. Dewshine and Tyldak were still untangling themselves, chuckling at their son’s antics. 

“Well, I cannot fault his motives,” Tyldak wrapped a wing protectively about his lifemate as he caught Windkin in his arms. Windkin grabbed a handful of Tyldak’s bronze hair and began to chew on it. 

“He is a little sprite, isn’t he?” Swift laughed. “Windkin, do you know who I am? Who am I?” 

“Siff!” he exclaimed, laughing at the sound. “Siff!” 

“Close enough,” she ruffled his brown curls. 

“You stay put this time,” Dewshine clipped him back on his tether. She wound her arms about Tyldak’s neck and he responded by hugging her close against his chest. 

“Yay! Go fly, go fly!” Windkin declared as Tyldak beat his wings, gently lifting the family off the ground. 

Swift smiled proudly. “Suntop and Venka still a year away from being ten. Windkin – and Yun when Skywise can talk Mardu into coming to visit – both little cublings. And Newstar and Nightfall due in two years. The Holt will be overflowing with little ones.” 

“It is... wondrous,” Moonshade sighed as she gathered up her excess leather. **Chieftess?** she called in sending. **I would not say this aloud – Strongbow would not have me admit this. But what you have made for us, it is wondrous. One-Eye has not yet grown facefur, and yet he is a great-great-grandfather. Never in the old times would one live to see so many generations spread out in one Holt. The forefathers would be dead, or the young ones never born. In two turns of the seasons there will be six Wolfrider cubs, not even eight-and-four. I... Strongbow would never admit this... but more than once have we wondered that perhaps if your mother had challenged your sire a few years earlier... perhaps Crescent might still live, perhaps she might be a mother herself by now. The Way taught us we must be a small pack, yet we grow more every day. The Way taught us there must be deaths and new lives both. Now... dare I dream there will be nothing but new lives... at least for the time being.** She averted her eyes. **I cannot promise I will choose to live forever. But nor do I welcome death into my Holt, and I howl in joy each time it is driven away. Perhaps this new way of thinking... perhaps it is a good thing after all.** 

“Thank you, Moonshade,” Swift took her hands in hers. “That means much to me.” 

* * * 

“I’m going scouting over this way, Redlance,” Skywise called as he followed the lightly-trodden path to the right. “Maybe I’ll have more luck over here.” 

“What are we looking for again?” Zhantee asked. 

“Look for a flat leaf, about this big... ah, whistling leaves – they grow here as well. These are good for purging fevers, Zhantee. Strange – in the old land they grew only in swampy areas. Ahhh,” Redlance knelt down. “This is what I came for. Glimmer-root. Rain has been giving it to lifebearers ever since he came into his healing powers – long before my time. This is what Nightfall needs, and Newstar too. Help me gather the leaves. Skywise – we found some. Skywise?” 

Skywise heard Redlance call him, but continued to hike through the underbrush, distracted. He swore he heard something call to him. A whisper of magic, a tingling of the senses. Perhaps not. He had to admit he hadn’t been thinking clearly the last few days. Perhaps it was merely excitement. He had already flown once to the Frozen Mountains to see Mardu and Yun. They had formed a pact – during the summer months Yun would grow up in the mountains with the Go-Backs, but when the first snow touched Thorny Mountain, Rayek would fly to the Frozen Mountains and fetch Mardu and Yun, who would sojourn with the Wolfriders for the winter months. Each night it grew a little cooler – surely within the next month it would be time and he could see his daughter again. 

He heard a noise above him and whirled about. He could smell nothing on the air, but then his sense of smell was not what it used to be. 

A crash of bushes and branches and a form came tumbling down the hillside. Skywise reached for his sword but did not have time to draw it. Something collided with him and shoved him down to the ground. 

“Owww,” he moaned, rubbing his sore forehead. He lifted his head, ready to confront an abashed Pike or possibly Teru. 

He looked up, and stared in amazement at the elf maiden who lay in his lap. She wore a pair of form-fitting black trousers and a scant white tunic that seemed impossibly bright in the fading light of the forest. Gold glinted at her slim waist; a fine leather belt crisscrossed over her breasts. Her long red-brown hair fell across her face, peppered with golden leaves. 

“High Ones above!” she cursed, bending over, holding her head. “What in the name of–” throwing her hair back out of her face, turning to glare at the elf she had toppled. 

Skywise stared helplessly into her bright blue eyes. They seemed... impossibly deep. 

“Nimh?” he whispered, the word tumbling from his lips. 

**Fahr?** she replied, equally bewildered, a flush blurring the scattering of freckles on her fair cheeks. She blinked, once, twice, then a slow smile spread across her face. 

“I....” she stammered, her smile turning to a grin. “You’re... oh... you’re beautiful...” 

Skywise edged closer, spellbound. Before he was quite aware of it, he lifted his hand, his fingertips lightly brushing across her cheek. **Nimh.** 

Again she blushed, averted her gaze, then slowly lifted her eyes back to his. 

He had thought it would be terrifying. He had spent his young life fighting against the very idea of it. 

But it wasn’t frightening at all. It made perfect sense. 

* * * 

“Skywise? What happened? We heard–” Redlance and Zhantee broke through the brush to find Skywise collapsed on the ground, transfixed by a foreign elf maiden. 

“Who–?” Redlance stared in amazement. 

“Who... who are you?” Skywise managed to stammer out. 

The elf almost replied, then saw Redlance and Zhantee looking at her, and leapt up in embarassment. She hastily brushed the leaves from her clothes. “I... my name is Savin. I’ve journeyed overland for six months in search of other elves. Are you the one who sent out the cry for help?” 

“The cry?” Redlance asked. 

“Yes – it was you. I recognize your voices. I’ve held the cry in my head for six months now. I...” she looked down at Skywise. “I heard you,” she whispered softly. 

“We didn’t send out a cry for help,” Zhantee protested. 

Savin lifted her hands to her temples and released a sending. The mingled voices echoed in their heads. ** Friends.... we’ve... where are you? Where?... need.... aid... come... where are... answer! Answer!** 

The cry looped over and over in their heads, until at last Redlance began to hear distinct voices. Strongbow, Moonshade, Skywise, Swift... all their voices melded together. 

“By Goodtree’s Rest,” he breathed. 

“Then it was you.” 

Redlance began to laugh. “Ohh, we came here because we had heard a cry for help. A cry that was locked in the land from a time long before. We sent out that call, the one you heard. But what we sent was: Friends, we’ve come. Where are you? Whatever your need, we’ve come to aid you. Where are you? Answer!” 

Savin blinked. She looked back to Skywise, as if for answers. 

“Where do you come from?” Zhantee asked. “Do you have a tribe?” 

“Yes... yes... perhaps I should speak to your leader... do you have a leader?” 

“Of course,” Redlance nodded. “Come, we’ll take you to our chieftess.” 

* * * 

“So your son heard the cry of the original High Ones?” Savin asked. The entire tribe had gathered on the meeting platform, and sat in a large circle, dining on nightswimmers, as they listened to Savin’s tale. 

“And you have the Palace – the Firstcomer Shell? Ohh, I came thinking I would be helping a small band of lost kindred, and I find the Firstcomers’ own children! My tribe will not believe it.” 

“Who is your tribe?” Moonshade asked. “Where do you come from?” 

“To the south-west – many months’ journey. We live on the coast, against the deep water–” 

“How did you get there?” Newstar asked. 

“Have you always lived there?” 

“How many are in your tribe?” 

“What are you called?” 

“We.... we don’t have a name, really,” Savin shrugged. “The humans we deal with have a name for us–” 

“You know humans?” 

“You... ‘deal’ with them?” 

“Are you at war with them?” 

“Enough, enough,” Swift rose. “Savin, perhaps you’d better start from the beginning.” 

Savin laughed. “Fair enough. Well, we live on the islands just off the southern coast of this land. There are about five eights of us in one place at one time - we're always coming and going and moving from island to another - but I suppose well, if you add everyone together... we number a few hundred.” 

The elves all drew in a collective breath. Hundreds! Hundreds of undiscovered elves! 

“Our leader is my half-sister Evergreen. Our legends say we once came from a great land to the east across the deep water, several thousand years ago.” 

“How?” Moonshade asked. “How did you cross the Vastdeep?” 

“In ships... do you have ships? They... um, they are these... these things that float on water. Like a leaf turned upside-down. Like a big bowl that floats. Humans have little tiny ones, boats, where we come from. But our ancestors learned how to build these large bowls that we call ships. Maybe from latent memories of the High Ones. But they set out, twenty elves, and three little trolls that came along for the ride. And they landed on the southern horn of this landmass eight generations ago. They broke into... I suppose you could call it one tribe - the truth is we're sort of scattered in... smaller tribes. There's one family on one island, one on another, and the bulk of the tribe on another. We all trade and visit among each other. And the three trolls have founded a whole troll kingdom. We trade with the trolls, too, and with the humans who live around our... our holt, you would call it. The humans, they call us pirates. Because we come and ‘raid’ their villages and pretend to steal their supplies. They call us thieves.” She laughed. 

“You steal from humans?” Skywise stammered, impulsively touching her shoulder in a gesture of protection. All the Wolfriders exchanged glances, thinking of Bearclaw and all his “games” with the humans from the Old Land. 

Savin shrugged. “We take the stuff they leave for us to steal, and we trade it with the trolls. Then we take what the trolls gave us and give it back to the humans, minus a cut for ourselves, of course. The human pretend they hate us, but they love us – we’re only a day or two from their village, and they’ve never tried to attack us. They practically worship us. They call us pirates, and thief-spirits and mischief-makers, but they thank us for bringing them booty from the ‘gold-spirits’ who live in the mountains.” 

Swift shook her head. Never had she imagined humans and elves could coexist like this! 

“My brother Loosestrife leads the raids on the humans. Loosestrife is sort of the leader too... well, chief of the one ship we have these days, at any rate. The 'captain.' He and his lifemate Goldcinder are always on the lookout for adventures and quests. I think he wishes he had gone north instead of me. But he is the captain, so he had to stay behind. Me... I’ve been travelling ever since we heard your cry. I took a little canoe – kind of a hollowed-out log that floats – and followed the rivers until I came here. I thought I’d have to help a small tribe of lost elves.” She paused her tale long enough to take a sip of dreamberry juice. “Oh, this purple stuff is really nice. But tell me about your tribe. You... you found the Firstcomers’ Shell? How? How...” she glanced at the winged Tyldak, the dark-skinned Sun Folk, then back to Swift. “We never imagined there was a tribe like this!” 

Swift smiled, and began the tale of the Wolfriders. 

Skywise had begun the night sitting a foot away from Savin, but over the course of her tale had slid closer across the platform, and by the time Swift reached the Great Fire, the stargazer was “accidently” brushing hands with the elf maiden. 

Mother Moon was already setting when Swift finished her tale with the arrival of the Palace in the New Land. Windkin was fast asleep in Dewshine’s arms. The twins were yawning, and Venka had taken to leaning against Zhantee for support as she tried to stay alert. 

“Ah, it’s getting late,” Swift stood and stretched. “And a belly full of meat doesn’t help an elf stay awake.” 

The other elves slowly began to rise. Now it was Savin’s turn to brush hands with Skywise. She too stretched, and by chance it seemed, her shoulders bumped his. The wolf chieftess smiled knowingly as she approached the two. 

“Oh, Savin, I’m afraid we have no free dens at the moment,” Swift apologized. “And Redlance doesn’t look up to the challenge of making a new den.” She glanced over at the weary treeshaper, bleary-eyed after a full helping of nightswimmer wings. She pretended to consider it. “I know, you can sleep in the Palace. We have some wonderful rooms we don’t use since we switched back to trees.” 

“Sleep... in the Firstcomers’ Shell?” Savin stammered. “You... can sleep in such a thing?” A wide grin crossed her face, and her eyes darted furtively to meet Skywise’s. 

“Of course! We lived in the Palace for three years.” She feigned a yawn. “Oh, you’ll have to forgive me. Skywise,” she turned on her friend. “You’re looking the least exhausted. Why don’t you take Savin up to the Palace. Show her the Scroll Room if she’s not too tired, and make up a room for her.” 

“Really?” Skywise exclaimed, a little too loudly, a little too quickly. He sprang eagerly to his feet, and extended his hand to Savin. She took it without hesitation and he led her away from the meeting platform. 

Rayek touched Swift’s elbow. **Tam! Are you mad? You’re letting that addle-brained stargazer bed the newcomer in our house? It’s bad enough he can’t keep from rutting with every maiden that appears–** 

Swift flashed him a smirk. **You little zwoot! He’s Recognized her!** 

Rayek’s eyes grew wide as Mother Moon. He wobbled on his feet, and Swift caught him, laughing, before he could stumble. 

* * * 

Skywise slowly opened his eyes, awakened by the scent of Savin’s hair. He snuggled against her, slipping his arm about her waist. The crystal walls of his Palace bedroom scattered the late afternoon light into a ghostly white glow. Savin murmured softly and snuggled deeper under the lush fur blankets. Skywise smiled contentedly and settled back down against the pillows. He could hardly blame her for being tired – they had stayed up until nearly sunrise. 

He dozed lightly. It occured to him that the entire Holt would soon figure out that something more momentous than another one of his conquests had happened. He hoped they wouldn’t tease him too much. He supposed he deserved a little abuse for all his speeches against Recognition – but how was he to have known it would feel so good? 

“Mm... Fahr...” Savin whispered, turning to face him. Skywise obligingly gathered her in his arms. 

Suddenly something heavy leapt onto the bed. Savin and Skywise jumped up out of the covers to see Starjumper crouched on the furs, tail wagging playfully. 

“Starjumper!” Skywise moaned, throwing his arms around the wolf’s neck. “Can’t you let us sleep a little longer?” 

Starjumper licked Skywise’s face, then turned to Savin and proceeded to sniff her face and hair all over, causing her to squeak at his cold wet nose. Finally Starjumper “buff”ed his approval and licked her cheek. 

“Savin, this is Starjumper,” Skywise laughed. “Starjumper, this is my lifemate.” 

His lifemate. He never thought he’d like the sound of that. 

“Lifemate...” Savin smiled. “You know... we never really had time to talk about it, last night.” 

Fear gripped Skywise. “You... you want to be my lifemate, right? I mean, you’re going to stay here with me? You’re not going back to your tribe, now?” 

“Of course I’m going to stay!” Savin nearly shouted. “We’re Recognized! We’re going to have a cub. Of course I’m staying... you... you want me to stay, right?” 

“Yes!” Skywise laughed, throwing his arms around her and kissing her passionately. 

* * * 

Winter in the New Land was harsh, but brief. Mardu and Yun came down from the Frozen Mountains, and Redlance made them a tree den right next to Skywise and Savin. Yun took to the trees as well as any Wolfrider child, and soon toddled across the thick branches like a treewee. Rayek flew the Palace south to the camp of the “pirate” elves and Savin introduced Skywise to her family. Swift and her counterparts Evergreen and Loosestrife spent many days comparing stories of leadership, then Wolfriders and pirate elves parted ways once more. 

By spring Savin had learned to scout in the temperate forest as well as she had in the tropical forests to the south, though she continued to suggest off-handedly that the Wolfriders might want to move to a more civilized climate. 

One spring night Skywise and Savah were riding Starjumper together when they came across Swift and Suntop, sitting astride Skyfrost. 

“When will I have a wolf-friend?” they heard Suntop say as they approached. 

“Don’t worry,” Swift smiled. “It will happen some day. You just have to be patient.” 

“Listen to your mother, Suntop,” Skywise said as Starjumper came up alongside the chief’s wolf. “I thought I’d never have a wolf-friend until I found Starjumper. Nightfall was about your age when she first bonded with Woodshaver.” 

“H’lo Skywise, h’lo Savin,” Suntop said glumly. “I just... I just hoped when Dewshine’s wolf had pups that maybe I’d get one. Venka’s Patch is already all grown up, and sometimes I think Yun and Windkin will have wolf-friends before I do.” 

“Your father doesn’t have a wolf-friend,” Savin said, hoping to cheer him up. 

Suntop burst into laughter. “Can you see Father riding a wo”lf?” Swift and Skywise laughed too. 

Just then a growl filtered up from the trees below the little hilltop. Starjumper’s back hairs bristled and suddenly he took off, shaking Skywise and Savin clear off his back. 

Swift and Suntop laughed as the young lifemates picked themselves off the ground. 

“Shh,” Skywise got to his feet. Loud growls and snarls rose from the forests. “Do you hear that? It’s Firecoat. I think he’s challenging again.” 

“Sounds like they mean it this time,” Swift fretted. 

“Hurry,” Skywise cried, running towards the sounds. Savin followed at a brisk trot, and Swift and Suntop dismounted Skyfrost to follow on foot. 

The wolves were already at each others’ throats, fangs flashing in the moonlight when they arrived. Firecoat sprang from the ground and bit Starjumper’s muzzle, and Starjumper responded by tearing at Firecoat’s ear. 

“This is barbaric...” Savin whispered under her breath. 

“Starjumper’s too old,” Skywise worried. “Too old for this.” 

Suddenly he sprang from the bushes. Swift called out to him, but it was too late. Already he had caught Starjumper’s tail and was trying to pull him off Firecoat. “Give up Starjumper!” he shouted. “Back off.” 

But Starjumper sank his teeth into Firecoat’s shoulders, and Firecoat bit Starjumper’s front leg. Skywise picked up a branch and broke it over Firecoat’s flanks. “Enough! Haah! Yaah! Break it up! Stop it! Run!!” 

Firecoat was lost in bloodlust. He didn’t even see an elf when he turned and snarled at Skywise, only a rival interfering in a private matter. Swift pulled Skywise back just in time. The old silver wolf took advantage of the brief distraction and threw himself at Firecoat anew. 

“Let me go!” Skywise shouted as Swift held his shoulders. 

“Skywise, you’ll be killed!” Savin pleaded. 

“Let me go! I’ll kill that upstart wolf!” 

“Firecoat will tear you apart!” Savin cried. 

“I have to save Starjumper.” 

Swift suddenly released him. Skywise pulled his sword from its sheath and ran forward. But as he charged forward, shouting a final warning, Starjumper reared up, a fatal mistake. Firecoat sank his teeth deep into Starjumper’s throat. 

“No!” Skywise shouted. He swung his sword, and the victorious Firecoat turned in time to receive a hard blow across his muzzle, tearing his flesh and breaking his jaw. 

**Rain!** Swift called. **Come quickly! We need you, now!** 

The wounded Firecoat was instantly contrite, winging in the corner of the glade as Savin advanced on him, a rock in her hand. But when she saw that the bloodlust had passed, and that Firecoat was in no shape to attack anyone, elf or wolf, she let the stone fall harmlessly to the ground. 

Starjumper was trying to lift his head, trying to wag his tail. He licked the kneeling Skywise’s face, then collapsed back to the ground. 

“It’s his throat...” Skywise whispered, tears welling in his eyes. 

“Rain is coming,” Swift said. “He’ll be here in a heartbeat.” 

Skywise looked down at his sword. Could he let Starjumper suffer even another heartbeat? The wolf was wheezing, twitching. Skywise put his hand on his battered neck. “Shh... it’s all right. Just... just hold on a little longer.” 

Rain burst in through the clearing, Redlance and Nightfall in tow. He saw the mortally wounded Starjumper and fell to the wolf’s side. Instantly his hands were on Starjumper’s neck and his healing energy was coursing throuh the wolf’s blood, sealing up the wound. 

“What happened to Firecoat?” Redlance looked at the cowering wolf. 

“He learned his lesson,” Savin said grimly. She flashed an angry glare at Firecoat, and the wolf whimpered misrably. “You treat an elf like a wolf, he’ll fight like a wolf.” 

“Starjumper?” Suntop edged out of the bushes for the first time. “Is he...?” 

Skywise had not moved. He knelt at Starjumper’s side, waiting, praying to the High Ones. Starjumper had to die, yes, but not now. Not yet. He had to live. He had to see Skywise and Savin’s daughter. He couldn’t die now. 

Starjumper had not moved for long minutes, and Skywise’s heart sank. Then the tail twitched, then thumped strongly on the forest floor. Skywise cried out in delight. “Starjumper! Starjumper, you’re alive! You did it, Rain!” 

The wolf looked up and licked the stargazer’s face once more. 

The other elves and the other wolves were beginning to appear in the clearing. The younger wolves whimpered and licked the wounded Firecoat in sympathy. The elves gathered around the convalescing Starjumper. Moonsbreath kneeled down beside her lifemate, waiting patiently. 

“I don’t believe it,” Rain said, sitting back on his heels. 

“What?” Skywise asked. “What, is he all right?” 

Rain wiped the sweat from his brow. “I... I’ve never had to heal Starjumper... I never knew...” 

“What?” Skywise asked. “What? Is something wrong with him?” 

“He’s not a wolf...” Rain marvelled. “Not... not like the others.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“There is elf blood in him. I felt it when I touched him. That’s why he’s survived so long!” He looked into the perplexed faces around him. “He’s like Timmorn. He’s a mixture of High One and wolf! That’s why he’s stayed so strong. Skywise, he’s not forty years old. He’s as old as the Wolfriders themselves.” 

“What?” Skywise looked down at his wolf. “Starjumper?” he ruffled the wolf’s bloodstained fur, and Starjumper’s tale wagged happily. 

“How?” Swift spoke. 

Timmain strode over to Starjumper and sniffed his healed wound. Starjumper twisted around and licked her muzzle, thumping his tail again. 

Swift examined Timmain warily. An idea slowly began to ferment in her head. “No... Timmain...” she sighed in a combination of amusement and exasperation with her ancestress. “Don't tell me he's... your son or something?” 

Timmain rolled her shoulders in a lupine shrug, and "buff"ed in reply. 

Swift's eyes widened. “No! Oh... I swear... somehow this is all part of your master plan to turn my hair gray.” 

Skywise stared at his chief in disbelief. 

“He’s... he’s Timmorn’s brother?” Redlance asked. 

Skywise looked down at the wolf. Suddenly his restraint broke and he hugged Starjumper’s battered shoulders. “You’re safe. You’re not going to die. Now or ever! I knew it, I knew it. You are going to live forever!” 

Rain got up and walked over the Firecoat. “You got a little more than you expected, hmm?” he asked. “Come here, let me fix that jaw.” 

Firecoat sat down and let Rain heal his wounds. “He’s fine,” Rain glanced back at Redlance. “Don’t be angry with Skywise or Starjumper – Firecoat gave a lot better than he got.” 

Skywise looked up at the treeshaper. “Sorry,” he smiled shamefacedly. 

“Don’t be,” Redlance said. “I probably would have done the same thing. Firecoat’s had a fire-ant up his tail lately, trying to impress the younger wolves. Maybe this will make him settle down a little, realize he’s not a young pup who can pick fights whenever he wants to.” 

Starjumper now pushed Skywise off him and got to his feet. He stumbled at first, but then stood tall. He padded over to Firecoat. Obediently, Firecoat lowered his broken muzzle and curled up his tail. Satisfied, Starjumper graced him with a lick to the face, then walked back to Skywise. 

* * * 

After the aftermath of the fight had faded, Swift, Skywise and Savin walked back up to the hilltop, under Mother and Child Moon. “Mother Moon is holding Child Moon in her arms, see?” Skywise smiled. “She’s telling Child Moon ‘Don’t be afraid, the wolf has lived a good long life and will keep on living it. He’ll live as long as the moons, as the stars.’” 

“As long as the stars,” Swift smiled. “I’m still trying to fathom that.” 

“We’re going to the stars, Swift,” Skywise smiled. “You, me, Savin, Rayek, and all the cubs... and Starjumper too! We’ll walk on the world the lodestone came from, you’ll see! No death-sleep, no white-cold, just new-green forever.” 

Savin smiled. “That sounds just perfect.” 

“You know,” Swift grinned. “Your lifemate is a horrible Wolfrider. If my sire had lived to hear him talking like this, he would have thumped him within an inch of his life.” 

“I like horrible Wolfriders,” Savin linked arms with Skywise. “They seem very sensible.” 

“I think so too,” Swift nodded. 

* * * 

Two turns of the seasons after Savin first arrived on Thorny Mountain, Savin, Skywise and Shenshen disappeared deep into a den hollowed out along the riverside. The other elves milled outside uncertainly. No birth had been so anticipated since the twins had been born ten years earlier. 

Windkin and Yun chased each other on the forest floor, Windkin floating, Yun running with the shambling gait of a three-year-old. Dart clumsily balanced baby Kimo in his arms, while Newstar fretted that he would break her son’s neck with his rough handling. Nightfall and Redlance sat under a willow tree with their infant girl Spar. Firecoat, his red coat laced with gray, his manner mild and friendly after his year of insurrection, dozed on the ground next to Nightfall’s wolf Rufftail. 

“Remember,” Pike said to Teru. “Two gourds full of dreamberry juice says it’s a girl.” 

They saw movement stirring the deerskin curtain to the birth den, and the Wolfriders broke into howls when Skywise appeared, a little bundle in his arms. 

Rayek bounded down from his lookout perch. “So, silver-mane, what is it?” 

Skywise waited just long enough to see genuine frustrated anticipation on his friend’s face, before he smiled. “It’s a girl.” 

The Wolfriders howled anew. Rayek reached out and flicked Skywise’s lodestone as he had ten years ago. “Only one, eh?” 

“Two girls in three years, black-hair. I don’t think that’s too shabby.” 

“You have a knack for siring girls,” Mardu laughed, striding up to her former lovemate. 

“How is Savin?” Moonshade asked, running up to look at the baby. 

“I’m fine,” Savin said, appearing in the doorway, dressed in a long deerhide gown, supported by Shenshen. 

“You should be in bed!” Skywise exclaimed. 

“While you all have fun out here without me? Anyway, the whole birth... thing, was a lot easier than I thought. I’m not going to be denned up like an invalid. I go back in when she does.” 

“What’s her name?” Moonshade asked. 

**Is hers a Wolfrider’s soulname?** Strongbow strode forward. 

Savin frowned in confusion, and a little veiled annoyance. “Are Wolfrider soulnames a different kind or something?” she asked rather pointedly. Strongbow rolled his eyes. 

Skywise laughed. “Yes, she has a soulname, but no, she doesn’t have the wolf blood – how could she when I got turned before Savin came here?” 

“What’s her name?” Swift called out. 

“Yes, her name!” Mardu exclaimed. 

Skywise exchanged a smile with Savin, then turned back to the tribe. “Quicksilver.” 

“Ohh, that’s perfect,” Swift tiptoed up to the baby and gently peeled back the soft rabbit-fur. Sure enough, there was a full head of bright silver hair, similar in colour to Shale’s shiny mane. The baby stirred, then opened her eyes, revealing deep blue orbs. 

“She’s beautiful,” Swift smiled up at her brother-in-all-but-blood. 

Starjumper was standing at the periphery. Now he whimpered and edged forward. “Hello, Starjumper,” Skywise smiled. “Now, you be quiet – let’s not scare her off wolves for life.” 

Starjumper wagged his tail eagerly. 

Skywise knelt down and held out the baby. “Starjumper, this is Quicksilver.” 

Quicksilver blinked up at the wolf, intrigued by the large gold eyes above her. Starjumper continued to wag his tail, but made no sound, careful not to frighten the baby. At length Quicksilver yawned and closed her eyes. Skywise gathered her back against his chest. “We should probably get you both back inside,” he said, turning to Savin. 

Savin nodded. She was beginning to show signs of weariness too. She slowly walked back to the den, and Skywise followed, rocking Quicksilver gently.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out the full EQ Alternaverse at http://www.janesenese.com/swiftverse


End file.
